In The News--18 Words That Changed The Course Of My Family Forever

We often think of newspapers just reporting events of the day, but sometimes a newspaper can have a direct impact on the lives of people, and even change the course of a family for generations to come!  Here is one such story.

The Letter That Began It All...

It goes without saying that the male population in Poland was devastated by WWII.  By the time it was all over in late 1945 my two mothers Zofia and Helena were 19 and 21 years old respectively.  There were few marriage prospects on the horizon and even fewer who met father Tadek's hopes for a chemist or doctor son-in-law, who would carry on and develop the work of his invention, the Skalneon medicine line. After a decade had elapsed, desperate measures were considered.  

It was being written up in the Polish newspapers about how there was a scarcity of women in Australia.  So, sometime in late 1956, on a lark, just to see what would happen, Zofia, who was now thirty years old, devised the idea to write to a Polish newspaper in Sydney, addressing the envelope as follows:

To the Most Widely Read Polish Newspaper 
Sydney, Australia

It made its way to the hands of Bolesław Korpowski, editor of  the Sydney daily Wiadomości Polskie.

Wiadomosci Polskie, Sydney Australia, 24 February, 1957.  Library of Congress Microfilm.

In the letter Zosia expressed a desire to come to Australia to start a family and eventaually bring over the rest of her loved ones remaining in Poland.  These are the recollections of Helena Skalska-Potaczek who was taped in December 2001 (though she recalled his name as Koprowski - still not bad for a fifty year old memory!) and also how I remember hearing the story many times over forty years. 

Korpowski wrote back to her, intimating that he would be happy to be considered as the first candidate.  However, the fact of his being fifteen years her senior may have factored into her decision to decline and try her chances elsewhere.  And so, in the February 24, 1957 issue, he published a small, two sentence ad under the heading Searching, which read as follows:

I desire to establish correspondence

 with a Pole from Australia. I read so much 

about your great longing for Poland

 and for Polish women. Zofia Skalska,  Kraków 2,

Al.  Krasińskiego 18 m. 6, Polska.

Wiadomosci Polskie, Sydney Australia, 24 February, 1957.  Library of Congress Microfilm.

Out of 1,000, One Caught Zosia's Eye

Those eighteen words (plus her name and address) ran only that one day, and yet a thousand letters made their way to 18 Al. Kraśinskiego in Kraków.  At first it all seemed like a jolly joke, Tadek just laughing at the idea, as the mailman daily brought handfuls of letters.  As the stacks grew, they enlisted their friend Janina Bielecka, who herself happily benefitted from the single Czech candidate, and together they read through them all.   

I don't know if Jan Adamowicz sent a photo with his first letter, or he just had a way with words, but for some reason Zosia chose him and began a correspondence.  He was a former WWII POW and displaced person who had emigrated to Australia and was working on the Snowy River Hydroelectric scheme, but was soon planning a trip to Africa to visit his cousin in July and August 1957. Perhaps he sent her this photo?

Jan Adamowicz, Sydney, Australia, ca. 1957

A Correspondence Begins

Meanwhile, Helena replied to all one thousand letters while Zosia and Jan embarked on a year-long correspondence.  Ironically, Jan turned out to be eleven years Zosia's senior, so not too much younger than the aforementioned editor,  Bolesław Korpowski.  I know from stories that Helena told, that Zosia asked Jan to grow a mustache and so by November 1957, Jan was working for the Electricity Supply Commission in Johannesburg, South Africa, and they were exchanging photos which indicate that plans for their marriage had already been set in motion. 

Jan Adamowicz, photo taken at Lionel's Studio, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 October 1957.

Jan, sporting his new moustache writes: 

The one who is thinking about lovely and dear Sophie

and waits

Jan Adamowicz

16.11.57

Johannesburg

S. Africa

Zofia Skalska, Kraków, Poland. ca. 1953

Whereas, a day later, Zosia dedicates an earlier photo of herself with this incription:

This picture is from a few years ago, but I send it to you so that you will not be upset when you see the same at Ewunia’s in Nairobi. At that time, I was still "beautiful" and young and elegant, and now I have completely gone "to the dogs." I will come to you straight from "paradise" - "naked and barefoot." To Loveable Janek

Zosia 

Kr. 17.11.57

And thus 18 simple words had set into motion the events that would make me and my four sisters possible.  They would send Zofia Skalska on a journey far from her centuries old roots in her homeland to settle on two different continents in her new life.  What had started out as a lark and a dream to escape Communist Poland was at first a great adventure, but one, as it turned out, fraught with many great personal sacrifices on her part.